Hide And Beast
by MihoAnsatsu
Summary: A simple game of hide and seek amongst the Frozn youngsters soon turns dangerous when they encounter a beast of a new player.


"Titsouk, I keep telling you! I don't want to play Avalanchin'yaface!"

"Oh pleeeeeeeeeeeease...I'll love you forever if you do, Annuqa."

"...my answer's still no, gingernut. "

Upon realising his fellow Frozn wasn't about to put down the thin, icy stick she was holding in her defence any time soon, Titsouk suddenly bent down to his knees in the thick snow; shooting her a somewhat hurt look as he began to disassemble his trusty snow cannon.

"Then what _do_ you want to play, spoilsport?"

"Well...," Annuqa pondered, a rather thoughtful look on her face. "How about a game of Hide and Seek?"

"How come you guys never invite Tiwi to play Hide and Seek with you?"

Wondering where the new voice was coming from, the two young Frozn soon found their leader, Kalindra, studying what looked like a pattern of frozen stalagmites rising from the ground of the mountain's base; shuffling quite awkwardly for an answer that wasn't likely to get them into trouble whereas Tiwi was concerned, it was Titsouk who answered the pending question.

"It's because we'd already know where he is, which is with you. No offence, Ms Kalindra, but your yeti a complete Momma's Boy."

"I know, I know," she sighed, seeming somewhat regretful when she noticed that Tiwi had climbed back onto her shoulder and was fiddling with a panel on her articulated arm; gently batting him away; yet it seemed the little yeti was more than persistent when he simply hopped onto the other shoulder, giving Kalindra's cheek a short, wet lick as he did so.

"Maybe Tiwi's a little clingy because he doesn't _know_ how to play Hide and Seek," Annuqa suggested, smiling rather sweetly as she went to gently stroke the furry Frozn's head. "Do you think if we showed him, it would ease him into it?"

"It's worth a try," Kalindra replied, giving a single nod to the younger female before glancing at the young yeti. "Don't look so scared, Tiwi, this'll be fun."

"I take it you want to seek, Titsouk?" The younger female said, giggling when the redhead predictably nodded with laddish glee; turning his back to allow her to make a run for a hiding place, Titsouk then began to count slowly and deliberately without even trying to peek once, much to Kalindra's expectations- despite what people said about his competitive nature, he was never one to break the rules despite his cheeky and boisterous antics.

"One...two...three..."

"So what happens when he finds Annuqa, Momma?" Tiwi asked, with a mixture of curiosity and hesitance. "Does he..._kill_ her, or something..."

"What? Of course not!" The Frozn leader responded, sounding quite shocked at her little yeti's morbid outlook on child's play. "She then has to look for him, that's all...oh...that's not right."

It seemed that Annuqa had been a little misguided in choosing her hiding place; making a run for it just as Titsouk had turned around to begin to his search, her early appearance was causing him to scowl a little bit over his ruined fun.

"Annuqa, you're not supposed to come out as soon I've finished counting!"

"Try telling that to this thing! _RUN_!"

Noticing the two young Frozn soon chased by a ferocious beast clad in armour, Kalindra found herself shaking her head in disbelief at the sight infront of her. Not wanting to harm the creature but realising the jeopardised safety of her clan, she quickly moulded the nearby snow and decided it best to attack with a snowball; hitting the creature square between the eyes, it's impaired vision caused it to trip up and tumble straight into a massive snow pile that had been caused by a recent avalanche.

She felt mean for having so little faith in the young ones, but Kalindra couldn't help but think that if they'd only had each other to rely on, they might not have been so lucky; they were young, and they were learning, but despite his laddish tricks and her experience in exploring, they were still young.

Gesturing to her two hiding clan members that it was safe to come out, she bent down to the creature's level as she gently pulled the fallen creature out of the mushy mess of white; jumping back a little when it tried to snap her articulated hand off in it's strong jaws. Unshaken, and noticing the creature breathing in quite a heavy and pained manner, she gently placed her fleshen hand on the fur area of it's face; stroking the coarse, purple hair, she couldn't help but give a smile when she heard it's calm, purr-esque growling.

"There we are...there's really no need to try and hurt anyone."

"I wish I had your way with animals, Ms Kalindra," Titsouk said, in complete admiration of before he felt a little snigger escape. "But, and I don't know why, I just always feel the need to pelt a snowball at the nearest creature I see."

"Throw a snowball at me and I'll make sure Momma kills you!" Tiwi protested, rather aggressively; many citizens would be forgiven for thinking he was nothing but a furry, cute bundle of intelligence but his sudden temper whenever his or his 'Momma's' safety was concerned meant you had to be really careful around the cuteness.

"No one will be killing _anyone_," Kalindra said, giving the yeti's tummy a quick tickle as the grumpiness soon turned to giggles. "The sad thing is...I actually _know_ who this _pet_ belongs to."

"I bet it's that two-faced prince with the ghost hair!" Tiwi exclaimed, almost spitting out the words out in disgust despite the stare he was receiving from his 'Momma'. "Well who else would it be!"

"How about his _father_?" She replied, in a gentle, matter of fact way. "That prince refuses to harm another living being, I doubt he'd train something to do the dirty work for him."

"You meant Emperor Whatshisface?" Annuqa piped up, sounding quite surprised at the possibility of it all. "Emperor Whatshisface has a son who's a pacifist like you?"

Kalindra wasn't one to turn to violence at first resort, but she wouldn't have considered herself a pacifist. However, she was aware of Gaa'dinyarh's wish for her to be his second mother, especially if their little encounter where Tiwi has threatened to shoot off the prince's head meant anything. Realising she was letting herself get distracted by matters that were trivial at that moment, she turned to her fellow Frozn, who seemed relieved that she'd returned to reality.

"He wouldn't hesitate for one second about killing you if he heard you were ignorant of his name," Kalindra explained, sounding genuinely worried for the younger female's safety. "Promise me you'll keep the 'Whatshisface' name out of Dregn's earshot, ok?"

Upon hearing his master's name, the beast attempted to lift it's head up as if it thought said master was present for command; head crashing back to the snow as it winced with pain, Kalindra couldn't help sighing a little sorrowfully at the creature's state as the flecks of backlash snow fell on it's face.  
"Titsouk, Annuqa."

"Yes, Ms Kalindra?"

"I think it's best we return this pet before a certain Emperor declares war on everyone again."


End file.
